ANKARA
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Dec. 20 the “end of the road is in sight” for PKK and YPG, signaling intensified efforts to address terrorist threats in Syria following political shifts.
“The hopes of the PKK/YPG have been in vain… From now on, our brothers in Syria will make their own decisions about their future,” Erdoğan told journalists aboard his flight home from a visit to Egypt.
His remarks come in the wake of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, which has set the stage for Ankara to ramp up efforts to eliminate PKK and YPG elements in the region.
“We will show that the time has come to neutralize the existing terrorist organizations in Syria. This is necessary to ensure that no threat emerges from the south of our borders from now on,” Erdoğan said.
The president reiterated his long-standing stance against the PKK and its affiliates, calling their operations unsustainable.
“Since the only purpose of terrorist organizations is to please the centers they serve, they are doomed to remain alone. This was the case yesterday and is the case today. However, there will be no tomorrow for them. The end of the road is in sight for the terrorist organization.”
The president further said PKK’s “shelf life” had expired.
“They have inflicted suffering on the region’s people — Kurdish, Turkish, Arab, Yazidi and others — for years,” he said. “There is no place for terrorists in the future of the region.”
In his remarks, Erdoğan reaffirmed Türkiye‘s commitment to assisting Syria during its transition process following the collapse of the Assad regime.
“We are supporting the Syrian people in managing the transition process smoothly, without any setbacks along the way,” he said.
The president also announced that Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan would soon be visiting Syria to work on the “new structure” to be established in the country.
“If Syria establishes a truly stable structure with this new formation, it will, in my view, hold a very strong position in the Islamic world,” he added.
Addressing pressing issues such as energy shortages and security challenges in the neighboring country, Erdoğan pledged to resolve Syria’s energy problems swiftly and to strengthen trade relations with both Damascus and Iraq.
“We will intensify our trade ties with Iraq and Syria. This will bring new momentum to both Syria and Türkiye in every respect,” he noted.
Erdoğan also addressed regional security concerns, calling for consistency in how Western countries treat terrorist groups.
“Just as Daesh [ISIL] cannot hold demonstrations in the streets and squares of Western countries, neither should the PKK and its affiliates,” he said.
